


Your Dad Did What?

by UndeadRobby



Series: The Gaang Kidnaps Zuko [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e07-08 Winter Solstice, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Canon Compliant, Ozai's A+ Parenting, POV Sokka (Avatar), Panic Attacks, Rated T for language, Sokka and Katara aggressively befriending Zuko, The Gaang Learns How Zuko Got The Scar (Avatar), Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), and telling him that what happened to him was Not Okay, no beta we die like men, very brief and vague mention of the possibility of suicide, zukka if you squint, zuko goes to cut his hair and sokka is not sure what he's getting that knife for is all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25064248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeadRobby/pseuds/UndeadRobby
Summary: Zuko is captured along with Sokka and Katara while Aang is having his spirit discussion with Avatar Roku, and lets slip that if he's brought back to the palace as Zhao's prisoner, he'll be put to death.Sokka and Katara decide they won't let that happen.[inspired by idk-my-aesthetic on Tumblr!]
Relationships: The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Gaang Kidnaps Zuko [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820455
Comments: 89
Kudos: 2774





	Your Dad Did What?

**Author's Note:**

> literally all of the credit for the idea behind this fic goes to idk-my-aesthetic and jezebelgoldstone, and probably some others in the notes. I basically just took their outline and turned it into fic format. enjoy! 
> 
> the link to the post, with the responses I referenced: https://jezebelgoldstone.tumblr.com/post/620022230197387264/early-season-1-when-aang-is-talking-to-roku

It’s as Aang is having his spirit meeting with Avatar Roku in the temple that the others – Sokka, Katara, and _Prince Zuko_ – who have been captured by Zhao’s men, are tossed unceremoniously, and _together,_ into a prison cell on one of the fire navy ships.

Sokka notes that Zuko’s wrists have been chained behind his back, but himself and Katara have been left with their arms free. He feels a twinge of resentment at the fact that the fire navy men who took them prisoner don’t think they’re enough of a threat to chain up, even if it works to their advantage – leaving his waterbending sister free to do as she pleases, in a ship, on the ocean. Do they not _know_? Or are they really that arrogant?

I mean, sure, she’s not very _good_ yet, but they wouldn’t know that, either.

As their captors leave them, locked securely in the cell, Sokka takes stock of the situation. The cell is locked with a padlock, and the bars as well as the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cell are made of cold iron. There’s a single cot – just a flat section of metal protruding from the wall, with the hanging corners attached back to the wall with chains – and Zuko has shoved himself into the corner furthest from them, into the two-foot corner area between the cot and the adjoining wall. He’s shaking, and his breathing is erratic. Sokka knows a panic attack when he sees one, but he’s frankly too stunned to do anything about it.

 _The_ Prince Zuko. Crown prince of the Fire Nation. Is locked in a cell with himself and his sister, with his arms chained behind his back. And he’s having a panic attack.

The facts are all there, and he’s looking at it with his own two eyes, but it’s not processing.

Katara seems just as stunned as he feels, as he notices her out of the corner of his eye, staring at Zuko just like he is – but she manages to shake herself out of it first, narrowing her eyes. 

“Zuko? Why are _you_ freaking out?”

The fire prince levels a glare at her, although even with his angry looking scar, it’s about as intimidating as an angry pygmy-puma kitten, what with him crumpled in a corner, with tears – and those are really tears, streaming down his face, Zuko can _cry?_ He has emotions besides blind fury and murder?

“Are you thick?” His voice is hoarse, and strangely weak. He clears his throat, and it comes out a little closer to his usual tone, although with a bit of a waver. “They’re going to kill me. We’re going to be carted back to the Caldera. You’re probably going to be put into prison, and I’m going to be executed for treason.”

“I’m sorry, _what?”_ Sokka finds his voice. “But you’re the prince! Plus, you haven’t even done anything treasonous! You were trying to catch Aang, and like, stop us from getting him to talk to Avatar Roku!”

Zuko is looking at him like he’s an idiot, which is absolutely unfair.

“You stupid- I’ve been _banished_. The punishment for entering into Fire Nation waters after banishment is death.” Zuko seems to have his breathing under control again, and he’s brought his knees up, so he’s sitting up rather than being crumpled helplessly in the corner.

“But you’re the son of the Fire Lord,” Katara reasons. “They’ll have to make an exception for you. You’re the heir to the throne, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Sokka finds himself agreeing, “what’s the Fire Lord gonna do if they execute his heir? Besides, he’s your _dad_ , there’s no way he’d let them kill you.”

“He would’ve done it himself when I was eleven, if my mother hadn’t stopped him. Besides, with me out of the picture, then he can crown my sister. It’s what he’s always wanted to do anyways.” Zuko’s glare had managed to morph back into the intimidating scowl that Sokka was more familiar with, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be scared after that admission.

“He… you… that can’t be right. He’s your _dad_.” Katara sounded like she was pleading with him.

“Yes. And he knows he needs to teach me a lesson. Clearly I didn’t learn it when he burned me and banished me. The facts are, I was banished, and I knowingly came back into Fire Nation waters. My punishment is death. Now will you _leave me alone?_ ” He shifted to face the wall, his back to the cot – his left side facing them. Sokka can’t help but stare, slack-jawed, at his scar. Did he really just say that his own father gave him that scar? On _purpose_?

Katara is also stunned back into silence. Sokka shares a look with his sister. Neither of them can believe that Zuko would really be killed upon being brought back home, but Zuko was so matter-of-fact about it, and if it was true that his own father had given him that scar…

Katara’s face hardens. Sokka schools the dumbstruck look off his own face, and nods once, determined.

Zuko wouldn’t have a choice, then – he was coming with them.

****************************************

Zuko continued to sulk in the corner while Sokka and Katara case their cell. Sokka’s glad the guy wasn’t crying anymore – he didn’t really know how to handle their second-worst-enemy-at-the-time chained up, and in tears. They had just gotten Katara started on trying to bend some water into the room through the small porthole when they hear a commotion on deck above them, and the muffled but loud rumbling lows of Appa.

A few agonizing minutes later, and Aang is blowing through the cell block.

“Aang!” Katara calls out, as he nearly passes their cell in his rush. Aang whips his head towards them, and rushes up to the prison bars.

“Sokka! Katara! …um, Zuko?” Aang peers into the corner of the cell where the prince is still huddled, refusing to acknowledge them. There’s a defeated slump to his shoulders that Sokka should be delighted to see in the enemy, but it just makes him feel vaguely sick. He shakes himself, turning his attention back to Aang.

“Aang, can you get us out of here?”

“Oh, yeah! Hang on, I took a ring of keys from one of the guards ‘cause I figured you guys had been locked up somewhere,” Aang rambles, fishing a ring of keys out of his tunic, and flipping through them. He slides a few different keys in the lock one-by-one before he finds the right one, and the padlock clicks open. Aang slides it out of the door, and it drops onto the floor, keys and all, with a dull clang.

“C’mon,” he says, “Before someone comes after us!”

Sokka casts another glance back to Zuko.

“Zuko, let’s go.”

Zuko looks up at him, blinking incredulously. “What?”

“Come on, jerkbender, we don’t have all day!” He stomps over, grabbing Zuko by the arm, and hauling him to his feet.

“Why would I go with _you_?”

“Uhh, yeah, why is he going with us?” Aang asked. Sokka catches Zuko’s eye twitching. 

“Because we’re not leaving him here to die. Come on.” Sokka gives Zuko a rough shove in the direction of the cell door. He whips his head around to glare in response, but doesn’t argue, and the four of them rush up onto the deck of the ship – Sokka taking the key out from the padlock on the floor as he makes his way out of the cell, and tucking the ring into his pocket. Hopefully there’s a key to Zuko’s shackles on it somewhere.

Aang had knocked out a few of the guards above deck, but some other crew members have since come up to investigate. Aang veers towards the starboard side, and with nothing but a shouted “C’mon!”, he leaps over the edge. Zuko hesitates briefly – Sokka sees him look around, and sees when his gaze locks onto Commander Zhao. He makes haste after that, rushing towards the railing where Aang had hopped overboard, with Sokka and Katara right behind him. As they reach the railing, Sokka sees Appa in the water alongside the ship, and hops over the railing, relief flooding him as he drops safely into the saddle. Katara and Zuko follow suit – Zuko landing a little less than graceful, without the use of his arms – and once they all are safely on the bison’s back, Aang shouts out a “Yip yip!”, and Appa slaps his tail against the water, taking off into the sky.

After a few tense minutes dodging fireballs from the Fire Navy ships, and one incident where Zuko almost falls over the edge because he can’t hold onto anything, with his arms still chained behind his back, they manage to escape the Fire Navy tailing them. Appa touches down to rest in a small clearing, in the midst of a dense forest.

Zuko has sequestered himself in the furthest part of the saddle he can get from the others, and he’s eyeing them all warily. Katara glares right back, and Sokka feels like he might need to intervene – but right before tensions can get too hot to handle, Aang leaps from Appa’s head and lands in the saddle with them. He’s smiling, but there’s something in his eyes that tells Sokka something’s weighing on him.

“So, um, can someone explain why Zuko came with us? Not that I’m not okay with that or anything! I’m just, you know, wondering what’s up. Mostly, why you were in prison and why Sokka said you were going to die if we left you?” Aang’s face was openly curious, and a little sad. “And also, why you’re chained up, I guess. But that’s probably the same reason you were in the prison cell with my friends.” Aang rubs the back of his neck, looking nervous as he cut off his rambling.

Zuko holds his head high, the picture of confidence – despite his wrists in chains, and the fact that Sokka had seen him crying not too long ago. “It’s like I told your friends, Avatar. I’ve been banished from the Fire Nation, until I can regain my honor by bringing _you_ to my father. By entering into Fire Nation waters chasing you to that temple, I broke the conditions of my banishment, and committed treason. The punishment is death.”

“But… you’re the crown prince, aren’t you? The Fire Lord wouldn’t really kill his own son… would he?”

Zuko’s glare withers, and he casts his gaze down at his lap. Aang looks frantically to Sokka and Katara, and Sokka could only look back helplessly, hoping to get the message across.

Aang seems to understand, and when he looks back at Zuko, he seems near to tears – just for a moment, before his face sets into something too serious and determined – and _furious_ – to be on the goofy kid’s face.

“We won’t let that happen, Zuko. I promise.”

Zuko looks back up at Aang like he’s crazy. _Maybe he is,_ Sokka can’t help but think – but, then again, he supposes that makes him crazy, too. He doesn’t the idea of letting Zuko die, at all, let alone at the hands of his own father, and he was sure Katara doesn’t either. Aang doesn’t like the thought of anyone dying. After all, isn’t Zuko their age?

“How can you- How can you say that? How can you trust me, and let me live, after everything I’ve done chasing after you?”

“We don’t trust you,” Sokka cut in. “You’ll have to earn that. But we’re not just gonna let you get killed, for something as simple as entering into the territory of your home country, we’re not animals! Sorry, Appa.”

Appa grumbles softly, but makes no indication he’d been offended.

Zuko looks the three of them over for a tense moment, his eyes wide, and disbelieving. Eventually, he seems to wilt a bit, and he looks down. 

“I… suppose I owe you all my life, then. If there’s… anything I can do to repay you…” 

“Actually… could you teach me firebending?”

“Woah, Aang, hold on a second,” Katara cuts in, “you’re really gonna trust him to teach you firebending? Just like that?”

“What other firebender would be willing to teach me?”

“I’m sure we’d find someone! I just- I don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t think we can trust Zuko yet.”

Zuko grimaces at her, but doesn’t try to defend himself. _High self esteem, much?_

“Besides,” she continues, “we have plenty of time, right?”

“Actually, we don’t.” Aang looks at his feet. “That’s what Avatar Roku wanted to talk to me about. Sozin’s Comet is coming at the end of the summer, and Fire Lord Ozai is planning to use it to end the war, by destroying everything. I have to master all the elements before then.”

Even Zuko manages to look stricken. Clearly, he hasn’t heard about that plan before.

“So… will you teach me?” Aang looks hopeful, but Zuko just looks conflicted.

“I’m… not sure.”

Katara narrows her eyes. “Zuko…”

“Y-you have to understand,” he starts, looking anxious, “even if I’m not actively carrying out my father’s orders, I’m… I’m not sure if I can… if I can directly contradict him, like that. This is all… um…” he squirms.

Aang looks a bit like a kicked puppy, and it must strike a chord, even with Zuko, because he starts up again quickly, “I’ll- I’ll consider it, okay? I just, I need some time to think. This would be… easier, if Uncle was here.” he mumbles the last sentence, looking off into the distance, back towards where they’d come from.

“Your uncle, like, General Iroh, Dragon of the West, that uncle?” Sokka blinks. How, exactly, would having a Fire Nation General the likes of the Dragon of the West help _anything_?

“Yes. He warned me not to run the blockade, but I ignored him. All I saw was the Avatar-“

“You can call me Aang.”

“uh… all I could see was Aang, and how close I was to being able to go home. He’s been travelling with me, and taking care of me, ever since I was banished. He must be worried sick. I… I don’t want him to think I’m in danger.”

“We’ll find him, then!” Aang says, chipper as ever. “Then he could join us too! Maybe he could teach me firebending, then, if you can’t! I heard he can breathe fire, like a real dragon!”

Zuko smiles, for what seems like the first time _ever_ , in Sokka’s opinion. It’s small, a little wistful, and so full of _love_ for his uncle – the expression looks terribly out of place on Zuko’s face, and it’s a little hard for Sokka to reconcile that little smile with the ‘angry ponytail jerk’ that had been Sokka’s mental image of Zuko since they’d first run into him at their village in the Southern Water Tribe.

“Yeah, he can. It’s… it’s pretty cool. He taught me a lot of what I know about firebending.”

“That settles it, then! We’ll find your uncle, and then you can both stick with us while we travel to the North Pole to find me and Katara a waterbending master!”

Sokka still feels uneasy, and the look he shares with Katara confirms that she does, too – but Aang has already hopped back up to Appa’s head, and they’re on their way into the sky again. It doesn’t leave much room for more discussion, so Sokka sighs, and fishes the key ring out of his pocket. There’s only two keys on the ring that look the right size for the lock on the shackles, and he manages to find the right one on the first try, unlocking the cuffs and tossing them unceremoniously over the edge of Appa’s saddle, where they crash into the dirt below.

Zuko rubs his wrists, and regards them for a moment. He seems to come to the realization that even if he did want to protest, there’s nowhere for him to go – the Fire Navy is now out searching for him, and he can’t exactly hop off a flying bison and go his own way – and his shoulders droop. He looks tired, and defeated – but most of all, incredibly lonely.

Sokka hopes they find his uncle soon, if for nothing else but to wipe that sad look off his face.

****************************************

When they touch down to set up camp that night, the first thing Zuko does is – without a word – walk from where they plan to set up to the river nearby. He’s still within view, and for whatever reason, Sokka feels pretty confident that he’s not about to run for it, so he doesn’t bother to follow after him.

He isn’t prepared to watch Zuko drop to his knees, and pull out a small knife.

Panic seizes him, and he takes a step forwards, but he falters when he watches Zuko bring the knife up to his weird ponytail, and slice it off at the tie. Sokka watches as he lays the cut hair into the river, and watches it flow downstream, before loosing what’s left of his hair – a sad little scruffy patch, just at the back of his head – from the remainder of the tie. It looks kind of stupid, in Sokka’s opinion, but he knows a little bit about Fire Nation culture, and their hair is important to them. Cutting it holds a lot of significance, and it’s the only thing that keeps him from making fun of the new haircut when Zuko makes his way back over to their encampment.

He doesn’t manage to stop himself from mentioning it completely, though.

“So, uh, no more ponytail?”

Zuko shoots him a glare, but there’s no real malice in it.

“I’m a traitor to my nation. I can never go back home. Cutting off my phoenix tail is symbolic of the end of that era of my life. And anyways, you’re one to talk about ponytails.”

“It is a warrior’s wolf tail!” Sokka stomps his foot, and crosses his arms indignantly. Zuko seems _amused_ , and that’s just not _fair,_ so Sokka huffs and grumbles as he stalks off into the woods to gather firewood for the camp.

****************************************

In the end, Katara doesn’t even have to ask – Zuko gets right to work helping set up tents, and makes no complaints about the work. Sokka would’ve thought a prince would be a little more stuck-up, or think he’s above all this ‘grunt work’, and he knows Katara probably had a whole speech planned about ‘pulling your own weight’, but none of it’s needed. Zuko even lights their campfire.

As they sit around the campfire that evening, finishing up dinner, Aang turns the conversation back to their… unique situation, with Zuko.

“So… Zuko.”

“Hm.”

“We didn’t know you were banished. What’s that all about?” Aang is the least subtle guy _ever_ , Sokka thinks, but he’s clearly just curious, and Zuko doesn’t seem offended at the question.

“I spoke out of turn at a war meeting, in my father’s war room. My uncle warned me to keep my mouth shut, but I was insolent, and naïve. My father told me I would have to fight an Agni Kai – that’s a firebending duel – for my disrespect. I wrongly assumed that I’d be fighting the general whose plan I had called into question, but it was actually my father who I was supposed to fight. Instead of standing up to him, I knelt and begged him for forgiveness, like a coward. For my weakness, he burned me, stripped me of my honor, and banished me from the Fire Nation until I returned with the Avatar in chains.”

The silence was deafening, for a few moments. Aang’s face was twisted in horror, and he looked like he might cry. The first one to speak up was Katara, anger coming off of her in waves.

“Zuko. How old were you when this happened?”

He blinked at her, and shrunk back a little. “Um. Thirteen. But I don’t see what that has to do with-”

“What?!” Sokka shouted, “You were only- wait a minute, wait a _minute,_ this was _how_ long ago?”

“A… a little under three years? I’m sixteen, now.”

“No one even knew the Avatar was going to come back when he _banished you and told you to find him!_ ” Sokka jumped to his feet. “That’s insane! You’ve been searching for a ghost for almost three years?! And you would’ve thought he was a hundred-year-old master of all the elements! You were barely a teenager, how were you supposed to capture him?!”

“Well- how else was he going to teach me a lesson? I was a disrespectful and unruly child-“

“ _Teach you a lesson?!_ Zuko, that’s _abuse!_ ” Katara sat up on her knees, and punched the dirt at her side.

“No, it was a deserved punishment!” Zuko sounds practically hysterical. “I spoke out of turn and disrespected him in front of his whole war council!” Zuko’s working himself up into a panic. He’d scooted back from them in the dirt a bit, and Sokka watches as Zuko looks wildly between himself and his sister as they shout at him. He feels a little bad for freaking the guy out, but this needs to be said.

“How can you think you deserved _that_ ,” Katara says, seething, and gesturing at Zuko’s face, “just for speaking out of turn?”

“It _wasn’t_ ‘just speaking out of turn’, I insulted one of his generals – but he was planning on sacrificing an untrained unit, using a bunch of fresh recruits to lure the Earth Kingdom soldiers into a trap! It would’ve been a massacre! I couldn’t just let that go without- but I should have. And then to add insult to injury, I refused to fight him in front of a crowd of nobles! I was weak, and made him look bad in front of all those people – _stop judging me!_ ”

“What the fuck. What the fuck?!” Sokka shifts his gaze to Katara, hoping he’s misheard, but the shock on her face tells him he hasn’t.

“I can’t do this,” Katara says, through gritted teeth, and she stands, picking up everyone’s dishes and stomping down to the river to wash them. Aggressively. Aang’s looking at Zuko like he’s either going to start sobbing or go into the avatar state and track down the fire lord right then and there. Sokka takes a deep breath.

“Aang, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Aang blinks, and looks up at Sokka. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure, Sokka.” He stands, and Sokka looks at Zuko.

“Don’t go anywhere.”

“I, uh. Won’t.” Zuko blinks at him, seeming totally lost. Sokka doesn’t have the capacity to clear anything up for him right now – he feels like he’s going to explode, and Zuko is the last person he needs to be taking his anger out on right now. He leads Aang out into the woods, just far enough that Zuko won’t be able to hear them.

“Excuse my language, but Tui and La, that is the most fucked up thing I think I’ve ever heard. His dad? Burned half his face off? When he was thirteen? Because he had the audacity to tell a general not to sacrifice a bunch of people’s lives??”

Aang wrings his hands. “Yeah… that’s what he said… man, I knew the Fire Lord was messed up, but not like, _that_ messed up! What’re we gonna do?” Aang looks so helpless, and so young, looking up at Sokka. He may not be the oldest in the group anymore, but Sokka feels a strong obligation to take care of Zuko now, just as much as he feels for his sister, and for Aang. He tries his best to look confident, and determined.

“We’re gonna keep Zuko with us. And we’re gonna protect him from the Fire Nation. And you’re gonna defeat the Fire Lord – because then he’ll be safe from his shitty dad. First thing in the morning, we continue towards the North Pole to find you a waterbending master.”

****************************************

As they get ready to turn in for the night, Zuko insists he doesn’t need a sleeping bag – which is convenient, because they only have three –and he lays himself down a little ways away from where they’ve set up their camp in the dirt. He’s not as much of a flight risk as they’d anticipated, and none of them are worried about him abandoning them in the dead of night, so all of them settle in for a pretty peaceful rest – much more than they were expecting, considering they’re harboring the enemy prince in their ranks.

Well, almost all of them.

Sokka gets up at some point to take a leak, and as he’s stumbling back to camp, he notes that the fire is going just as strongly as it had been when they’d gone to sleep, and it’s been hours. It’s still a few hours ‘til sunrise, but it’s past the middle of the night by quite a while, and the fire should’ve burnt down to embers by now. He looks around, and spies Zuko sitting on the bank of the river where he’d cut his hair, cross-legged in a meditative pose, and backlit by the soft glow of fire.

He doesn’t startle when Sokka settles next to him. He looks almost serene, Sokka notices – he’s sat down on Zuko’s right side, and in profile, he can’t see his scar. Zuko looks _really_ young, just looking at that half of him, without an angry scowl on his face, and it’s… unsettling, to see Zuko like that.

“So, what’re you doing up, jerkbender?”

 _That_ startles him. It’s hardly noticeable, but Zuko jolts slightly, and the flame he’s cradling in his hands flickers briefly, his eyes snapping open in surprise for just a fraction of a second before he schools his face into a glare, and looks over at Sokka.

“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.”

“No, really, what’s wrong?” He turns towards Zuko, trying to keep his posture open, and friendly.

“I’m not going to kill you in your sleep or something! Just leave me alone, okay?” Zuko shouts, turning his head away.

Sokka startles at that, stiffening, and blinking at him. “What? Of course you wouldn’t!”

“How can you say that?” Zuko turns to face him now, bewilderment clear on his face. The little flame he’d been holding in his hands flickers out, as he gestures towards where the others are still sleeping. “I’ve been hunting your little group for months! I’ve taken every opportunity I’ve had so far to attack you! How can you trust me after that?”

“Well, yeah, but you wouldn’t _kill_ us! Especially not when we’re asleep! Like, maybe you’d try and kidnap Aang while me and Katara are sleeping or something, but even saying that out loud, I don’t think you’d do it.”

Zuko doesn’t seem to have a rebuttal to that – _hit the nail on the head._ Sokka feels a little smug at leaving the guy speechless, but there’s something still bothering him.

“Why would you even think that? Why would that be the first thing you assumed was going to happen?”

“Because what else would I-“

“Wait- hold on a second,” Sokka cuts him off, with mounting horror. “Were… were _you_ scared? Did you think that _we_ were going to hurt _you_ in _your_ sleep?”

“No, I- of course I didn’t, um, obviously not-“ and, yikes, this guy is one of the worst liars Sokka has ever seen. It’s plain as day on his face that he’s not sure what to say, and he’s looking _everywhere_ but Sokka’s eyes.

“Zuko, why would you think that? We’ve been so upset this whole time-“ He reached a hand out to rest on Zuko’s knee, trying to be reassuring, but Zuko swats it away, gesturing wildly.

“Exactly! You’ve all been upset with me, this whole time! You’ve dragged me along with you, and you’ve been angry ever since – and you _should_ be! I’m a disgrace to my family, and to my nation, and I’ve done nothing but chase you and your sister and hunt your friend since that day I attacked your home-“

“No, Zuko, you’ve got it all wrong! We’re not angry at _you-_ “

“Yes you are!” Zuko shouts, before glancing back at camp where Aang and Katara are still asleep, and adjusting his volume. “I know what you’re like. I know what _all_ of you are like. I’ve been studying you, ever since I started tracking you, and none of you have _ever_ been this angry. Not even when I captured Aang, and I attacked your village! And now that I’m here _with_ you, you’ve all barely been able to keep yourselves under control, you’re so angry! What am I supposed to think?”

Sokka takes a deep breath. Of _course_ Zuko thinks they’re mad at him. Of course! After all the shit he’s been through, why would he think anything else?

“Zuko. I’ve never been this angry in my entire life. Not when the Fire Nation killed my mom, not when my dad left me behind when he went off to war, and not when you effortlessly kicked my ass and manhandled my gran-gran. But I’m not mad at _you._ ”

“But… then what- what else could you possibly-“

“Zuko, we’re angry _for_ you. We’re mad at your dad! We’re mad at that general you spoke up against at that war meeting! We’re mad at every single person who watched you, a child, beg for mercy from your fucking _dad_ , the _Fire Lord,_ and did nothing- you didn’t deserve any of what happened to you, Zuko. We’re mad at everyone and everything that let it happen. But we’re not mad at _you_.”

“I don’t…” Zuko’s voice cracks, and he clears his throat. He scrubs at his eyes, and is he crying, _again?_ “I don’t understand.”

“You will. C’mon, get some sleep. We’re not going to hurt you, and I’ll talk to the others in the morning about trying to reign it in around you, okay?”

“…yeah, okay.”

Zuko follows Sokka back to camp, and when he lies down and he picks a spot closer to the rest of them than he had before, Sokka takes it as a win. He doesn’t let himself fall asleep until he’s sure Zuko’s managed to fall asleep first.

They’re gonna find a way to make him understand that what the Fire Lord did to him was wrong. That, Sokka’s sure of.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! And don't forget to give idk-my-aesthetic some love on Tumblr for the idea behind this! 
> 
> Not beta'd but I did proofread - I tend to default to writing in past tense, and this is supposed to be all in present tense. If you notice anywhere I messed up, let me know so I can fix it!


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